self-determination
noun
Simple meaning
Determination of one's own fate or course of action without compulsion.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sehlfdihtermuhnayshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsɛlfdɪtɚməˈneɪʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
ethicslaw
Determination of one's own fate or course of action without compulsion
ethicslaw
The ability or human right to make one's own decisions without interference from others
politics
Government of a political unit by its own people
international law
Self-determination of peoples: the collective right to determine its own destiny in the international order, to choose its own political status and to determine its own form of economic, cultural and social development, the right to establish a state
politics
The political independence of a people
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Determination of one's own fate or course of action without compulsion
Used this way, self-determination is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Law/legal
- Government/politics
- Academic writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.